The hot speeches started early on the first night of the Democratic convention, when Al Franken gave us a few laughs tempered with truth and then Sara Silverman mounted the podium and talked to the fact that she felt the Bern but now, understanding the reality of the primary, she was backing Hillary Clinton all the way. Shortly thereafter Corey Booker hit the stage and broke the sound barrier with an old fashioned, hell raising, barn burner of a speech that will certainly catapult him to the forefront of future Democratic contenders. Even GOP pundit Steve Schmidt, admitted that there isn’t a single speaker in the Republican stable who could have given a performance like that.
Next Michelle Obama, lovely, charming and beautiful took the stage to wild applause. She started out like the loving mother that she is, explaining how special it was to get to raise her daughters in the cosmopolitan whirl of the White House and how important in this or any election it is to choose the candidate you felt would set the best example to your children and the children of America. She was touching, she was insightful and she was brilliant. Corey’s speech may have been an awe-inspiring rafter rocker but Michelle’s was one of the best speeches I have ever heard. I’m sure all the GOP writers were taking notes.
Elizabeth Warren, who spoke from the head more than from the heart followed Michelle. She reminded us that Hillary was running against the most unqualified human being on the planet. She reminded us that this was a man who stood for everything that is bad for this country, an ego that walks like a man and cares nothing for anyone but himself. She didn’t give us the ceiling shattering rhetoric of Corey or the emotional clarity of Michelle, but what she did give us were facts, accusations of misconduct and a war plan with which to defeat Donald Trump.
And finally there was Bernie himself; Bernie, the underdog who almost ran the table. It took him a while to thank all his followers and massage many egos but when he got to it, he really jumped in with both feet, naming Hillary as his candidate and running a litany of each and every domestic policy on which Hillary outshone Trump. He blasted Trump and insisted that Hillary, the Senate and the House, be the goals of this convention. It was a hell-of-a-speech. And in the end a staunch endorsement of Hillary that hopefully will silence the most foolish of his supporters.
After all is said and done, this first night of the convention was one of serious, big time speechifying. The speeches were inspiring, the attacks on Trump devastating and the effect on the home fans long lasting.
But despite Bernie and everyone else’s attempts to make even the dumbest of Bernie fans understand the gravity of the issues and how important it s to vote if nothing else, against Trump. Despite all this work, three young women interviewed after all the speeches, still didn’t get it. They still didn’t understand that this is no longer an election between Sanders and Clinton. I’ve written, any number of times about Trump supporters living in a bubble. But they aren’t the only ones. You just can’t fix stupid.
How did this effort compare with the first day of the Republican convention? Very favorably, it appears. The speakers were possessed of more gravitas; the speeches themselves were much better quality. The event was organized extremely well. If Paul Simon had managed to get his ass out on the stage on schedule, it would have all run like a highly professional show. Trump may be the star of reality TV but this production made his look like amateur time in Dixie.
Sara Silverman calling Bernie supporters “stupid” and you calling Bernie supporters “dumb” is destructive rather than constructive, and doesn’t help matters. If you want to pull the flawed and ruptured Democratic Party “together,” you need to adopt a more welcoming attitude and work toward a more progressive party agenda.